ESPN has been bad for a really long time, and I guess it’s fair to say they are “rebuilding” right now. They recently fired a bunch of people, started a new Sportscenter spin-off called “SC @ Night”, highlighting 30 For 30s with a new podcast, and it really feels like they are trying to reinvent themselves and modernize everything. Only problem is…it’s not working.

They need to take a page out of the Yankees book and learn how to actually rebuild, because interviewing a damn water cooler to try and be funny is certainly not the answer. I wish I could find the full “interview”, but I also wouldn’t want to cause the loyal BTB readers any of the pain of having to watch such dreadful television.

This leads me to my point: ESPN is uncool. Not hip. Lacking humor. You name it, ESPN doesn’t have it. Their lame attempts to try to connect with their audiences in a “funny” way just humiliates them further and further. This cooler thing was just another piece of the puzzle.

Interviewing a cooler can be funny, if done right, so I’m not denying the thought process. But the execution was so so so horrible. They sounded like a bunch of lame dads at a barbeque who had one too many drinks, and were starting to make jokes that make their wives say “Alright, it’s time to go home”.

It was Stan Verrett interviewing co-host Neil Everett, who was speaking as the cooler. It seemed like a really bad puppet show that your kids put on and you let them do it because you know they’re having a lot of fun with it. Everybody at the party knows it sucks, but you’ll never tell the kids. Well, Stan and Neil, believe it or not, you’re the kids in that metaphor, so listen up. It was PAINFUL to watch and hard to believe such an iconic program like Sportscenter has stooped this low.

And it’s not that Neil and Stan aren’t funny people. But I wonder why they are trying to be something they’re not? They need to Stay in Their Lane and stick to the “This is Sportscenter” humor, when ESPN was at its prime.

Right now, if I saw Neil Everett at a party and he tried to pull this joke on me, I’d politely laugh and pretend I had a phone call to try and leave the conversation.

ESPN has some branding issues right now, and they are caught in a whirlwind of sports media who are passing them up. They are not the only one’s doing what they do anymore, and if I wasn’t brainwashed to go directly to ESPN when I turn on the TV, I would not watch a second of their material.